Author's Notes:

Nugh! You guys... Thank you for the comments on the last few chapters. It really means a whole lot that all of you thinking so much about my story. I feel happy and grateful every time I see one. And yes - I do read them all. But all praise should go to my editor, Shawkthorian. He's been an immensely wonderful help with High Moon and help made the story so much better than it would've been without his help. So we both thank you all!

-Till Next Time

High Moon Ch. 52:

Pride & Sacrifice part two; Bracing the Storm

Only two short decades had passed since the Nightmare Rebellion had come to its destructive end. It had terraformed an entire forest where the former crowned city lay, resulting in the forced removal of its denizens. It was only by Celestia’s difficult sacrifice, forced to banish her own sister to the moon for an unknown number of years, that the entire kingdom was saved from destruction.

Alone with her grief and guilt, Celestia was forced to take full control over her crippled kingdom. She had quickly tried to realign with the sovereign parts of Equestria that had broken away to form the Lunar Republics, but all attempts at communication were left unanswered by all the sovereign states that made up the new republics.

This had all happened only twenty short years ago, and now Equestria was on the path to rebuild, while the republics were beginning to unite together to the point where it seemed they would be self-reliant in the near future. This was more than welcomed by Celestia, as she had far too much on her plate already. It had gotten to the point where she had been using magic nearly constantly, even in her sleep. All just to keep the peace.

However, this peace was being threatened by clans of dragons uniting together and attacking random villages and towns. Rumours said that these dragons were forming their own regime, and were using their almighty power to push explorers and other equines out and away from the other side of the Swayback Mountains, and even parts of the newly forming forest; named the Everfree for the inability of any equine to settle in the lands without being preyed upon by some wild force of nature.

Celestia couldn’t allow these attacks to go unanswered, not after having been made a fool of by her own younger sister. Yet all attempts to talk with the leaders of the rapidly growing empire fell on deaf ears. It seemed that this was going to be yet another war on Celestia’s already blood-soaked hands. But for the sake of her kingdom, Celestia would gladly plunge herself into the fight.

Thankfully, after some small skirmishes, a truce was called between the dragons and Celestia before any more bloodshed could happen. Yet small groups of dragons seemed to ignore this truce. In particular, one of their smaller, but more powerful, groups converged on a small village where it was said that Celestia was resting at after a meeting with the dragons’ new leaders.

To these dragons, their intentions were true and just in their eyes. Far too many of their kind had been mercilessly and savagely killed by ponies calling themselves dragon-hunters. In spite of Celestia having formally forbidden the hunting of dragons for profit, some ponies kept at it. It was rumored that her foremost general, and current lover, was one of those ponies that ignored her declaration.

At first, dragons were able to keep to themselves, wanting to keep the truce alive, but these ponies continued hunt them and their young. In doing so, they had broken the truce that Celestia had worked so hard to forge with the new empire.

This clan of dragons in particular had been attacked before, and had finally had enough. They decided that if the ponies wanted war, they were going to give them war. The strike was quick, a blinding fury of fire and other elements, roasting ponies in their homes, and burning buildings down to the ground. There was no quarter given to the ponies, none were deemed innocent of the crime of having hunted dragons. Celestia and her elite guard quickly moved into action, with Celestia taking on the dragons herself.

During the battle, lives continued to be lost. Farmers, merchants, artisans and even the guard itself was cooked alive from the dragons’ furious rage. Within mere hours, the village was an utter loss, numerous lives burned away, many more severely injured. Even the skies themselves seemed injured from the fire and smoke poisoning the clouds, resulting in ash raining down from the blackened skies.

For every pony that fell, though, Celestia’s fury grew. She hurled her rage and power in full at the dragons, each individual falling quickly from her own unmatched might. Yet in spite of her arcane skills, even this goddess had a limit to her endurance, becoming badly injured and exhausted from the protracted fight.

It got to the point where all Celestia could do was teleport the invaders to some part far within the forest, but even that was starting to drain her magic, which had been exhausted fighting off the raging dragons. But she continued to rage on until the number of the dragons had dwindled down to a mere four; two male Salamanders, one dragoness, and possibly the most frightful of them, a King Drake.

As the two winged dragons kept their distance from Celestia, the two Salamanders circled around her, both ready to finish the mare off at a command from their leader. The most the celestial princess could do was hold up her shield and halberd in defense. Her battle had been long and hard, yet these dragons were fighting with a purpose, and they seemed to be set on killing her.

The thought of actually dying scared the mare somewhat, especially without the powers of the Elements of Harmony to save her like they had with her sister. She hadn’t expected the dragons to attack after the truce had been made. Celestia had been looking forward to peace.

“Tell me! Why have you attacked us after the truce was forged?” Celestia questioned, her bloodshot eyes glaring at the purple and silver King Drake hovering before her, in spite of his mighty wings having been damaged during the fray. “Do you dragons enjoy this senseless death?! Is that truly your nature?!”

A rumbling growl that shook the very ground came from the King Drake, causing Celestia to flinch from the sheer force behind it. “No, it is you who crave violence and destruction, Sun Goddess,” the King Drake roared with purple and silver flames emitting from his nose and mouth, his eyes shining a bright silver. “You send your…dragon-hunters to do your bidding while you lie to the Great One’s face.”

Celestia’s face scrunched up at the drake’s accusation, as she had forbidden any acts of hunting dragons for mere trophies, despite having partaken in it herself years before the Nightmare Rebellion. That was one of the topics of many arguments she’d had with Luna. But Celestia was trying to turn over a new leaf, she was trying to atone for her sins.

“What are you-”

“Silence, coward! You speak of peace, but this only a ploy so you can secretly kill us off. Isn’t it?! Tell the truth, mare! Admit to your sins!” the King Drake shouted at Celestia with a roar of towering fire from him and the remaining dragons.

The unholy display of power sent a chill down Celestia’s spine, forcing her to acknowledge her fear of dying once again. “All of you equines are the same, you plea for peace only to stab others in the back! Is the kind of ruler you are?! You have already eliminated your own sister, just so you could have the throne all to yourself. Is that not the case, you conniving mare?!”

“No! I would never do such a thing,” Celestia retorted, though it sounded weak to her own ears. Over the past two decades, she had begun to question herself whether or not if she really had done the right thing by banishing Luna to their mother, but it was the only thing she could do. “Please, I beg of you, cease your attack. The greater parts of Equestria had nothing to do with those dragon-hunters. Your anger is misguided!”

“NO!” the King Drake roared, shooting a flood of purple and silver fire towards Celestia, that she was only just able to defend against with a barrier. However, the barrier only drained more of Celestia’s magic, causing her to fall to her knees, breathing harshly.

Celestia struggled to regain her composure after the sudden and powerful attack from the King Drake, but the battle had taken too much of a toll on her. The fact that most of her magic had yet to return to her after the Nightmare Rebellion also hindered her.

“Our anger is not misguided! We know exactly what we are doing, mare,” the drake said, waving his hand toward the two darkly-colored Salamanders circling Celestia. Suddenly, both drakes started to charge at the mare with blinding speed, rushing Celestia before she had a chance to put up a strong enough barrier to stop the attack.

One swing was all it took before Celestia was sent flying from the one of the larger drake’s sharp claws, before she was caught by the second smaller yet faster drake, and thrown back onto the ground.

Still reeling from the sudden attacks, Celestia was unable to stop the elder Salamander from swiping his arm at Celestia’s side, sending her to collide with a thick oak tree. After the side of her body slammed into the tree, Celestia was left heavily dazed as blood began to trickle down from the side of her head.

Just as she was getting up from the ground, the younger black and dull-green Salamander drake came running at Celestia. He grabbed her by the mane to slam her head back against the tree, before throwing her back to roughly the same spot she faintly remembered being at. The King Drake’s clawed feet were the first thing she could see after her vision returned.

Heavily gasping, drained of her magic, and beaten, Celestia struggled to get back to her feet, coughing up a mouthful of blood. She raised her head up to the towering drake, looking into the burning anger in his eyes.

“Now do you now know what it feels like to be hunted? Out-numbered, without a single shred of hope of winning. This,” the drake stopped, waving his hand over to the burning ashes that was once a thriving village. A village filled with ponies whose lives had been turned to cinder by the fury of the dragons’ attack.

“This is what it is like to be hunted. To have your peace ripped from your hands by a force you have no power of stopping. This is how us dragons feel every time you ponies are near. Remember this lesson, Princess. For it is not one that I will allow you to live through again.”

Celestia strained to get off the ground, digging for any kind of power she had left to use, but her body had been pushed past its limit as she slumped to the ground with a moan of pain. All she could do was lay there on the ground as the dragons began to leave, retreating deep within the forest.

Once again, Celestia was able to walk away with her life in defeat. This was nothing but a repeat of what had happened two decades ago. Trying to ride out the pain, Celestia turned over to her back, spreading out her severely damaged wings as she stared up to the blackened skies infected with ash.

Staring up at the ash clouds, something awakened inside of Celestia. Something she hadn’t felt since she had dealt with the Followers of the Fallen Star. An anger, a rage, directed at her own failures, she became trapped in a vortex of emotions that fed off her own self-loathing, before it finally broke free of its restrains.

Celestia’s breathing began to quicken as her stained fur, tarnished by blood, dirt, and ash, began to shimmer with a bright, heated light. Her wounds were healing, seemingly of their own accord. Her eyes and mane started to shine with a bright holy light, becoming filled with the same intensity of her anger.

Suddenly, Celestia let out a gut-wrenching scream, overtaken by a blood-boiling rage and surge of fully-released magic. A bright golden pillar of light, so bright and powerful that it broke through the thick layer of soot, shot up from where Celestia was laying down, blinding any that would’ve dared to stare into its light. The ground began cracking in a bright golden-yellow light just from the sheer heat of Celestia’s rage, charring anything above and below it.

Once the light had faded, Celestia was no longer on the ground writhing in pain, but instead hovering in the air, clad in a full suit of armor, wielding a new shield and halberd. Her body had been warped, twisted, by the burning hatred in her very core.

All that was on her mind was vengeance. A payment for the loss she had suffered through, for the humiliation that those dragons forced her to suffer through. She had only one thing on her mind: to hunt.

As Celestia ended her story, both the twins and Frost were left in utter disbelief of what the mare had told them. Frost felt nothing from the mare but utter calm - it seemed she was telling the truth. The mere thought that Celestia had done what she was implying sent both Quill and Spike into a mind-blowing rage. Only one question was stopping them from acting on this rage…

“They… they were our parents, weren’t they? They were from that clan?” Quill gulped hard, eyes locked on the princess before her. “D-did...did you really do it, Celestia?” Quill demanded, her hands curling into claws, before she forced them back into something that was more manageable. A quiet moment passed by, causing Quill’s rage to come to the fore. “Answer me you...you...you dragon-hunter.” She whispered the word like a curse.

Frost saw that Quill was gripping at the knees of her pant legs, her claws clenched so hard that she seemed about ready to tear through them. She could see the fury in her eyes, feel it emanating from the young dragoness. Yet somehow, Quill seemed to be holding her rage at bay, for now. Frost put her hand on Quill’s shoulder, to help keep her calm. “Quill, it’s going to be-”

Suddenly, the scorpio mare was cut off by the sound of wood breaking. Quill jumped, looking at Frost in surprise. Neither of them had moved. They looked at Spike, seeing the drake standing in front of Celestia’s desk, one fist buried in the heavy oak, cracks splintering from the hole towards the edges. Spike didn’t seem to have noticed that his body had moved.

A long pause came over the room as Spike took a moment to calm himself down before removing his hand from the shattered wood. When he did, he had a piece of wood in his clenched fist. He discarded the wooden shrapnel, placing his hands on either side of the broken desk, causing it to cave in.

“My sister asked you a question, Celestia,” Spike spat, his eyes faded with a dark-red light, unknowingly allowing his ancestor to influence his actions. Spike’s mind quickly became clouded with dark thoughts he had never had before. “Did you, or did you not kill our parents!?”

Slowly, Celestia turned her chair around, looking into the anger and hatred that was filling the twins’ eyes, especially Spike’s. She was surprised by his action. If either of the twins would have done something rash, she had expected it to be Quill. Celestia knew this day would come, however, and she knew how the twins would likely react, regardless of their age.

Celestia let out a long sigh, happy, or at least thankful, that the twins still had some control over themselves. There was another long pause as Celestia gathered the strength to answer the question. “Yes, I did Spike. I killed not only your parents, but their entire clan. And I did it without mercy. Much like how they destroyed that village.”

The moment Celestia’s words left her lips, lightning flashed through the skies, only adding to the intensity of the room. Before Quill’s rage could overtake her, Spike again let his own get the better of him as he forced the desk to split into two, letting out a roar of anger.

Celestia remained calm in front of the furious drake, knowing that the twins knew they couldn’t ever hope to take her on. As the mare continued to remain quiet, Spike continued his rage as he picked up and tossed one half of the desk into a bookcase, littering the floor with books.

“Like it or not, that’s what happened,” Celestia started, interrupting Spike’s rampage with her cold and regal voice. “Spike, Quill, your parents were going to start another war that would have surely destroyed Equestria. I did what I had to as ruler. Surely you two can-”

“So that gave you some right to kill our parents?!” Spike shouted at Celestia, still trying to come to terms with what the mare was saying. “You murdered our parents and stole our egg away from their dead bodies...didn’t you?!”

Celestia sighed as another bolt of lightning arced through the sky, turning to face Spike. The moment Celestia’s connected with Spike’s, she frowned at the red tint glinting in his anger-filled eyes. “Yes, I did. At the time, I thought that I could give you two a proper upbringing. But the years had taught me that I simply wasn’t ready. That’s why I had your egg put in stasis, to be a test for any of my students that showed the proper magical aptitude to hatch it. None did until Twilight showed up.”

Spike, breathing heavily from the emotional overload, fell back against the bookshelf, straining to regain control over himself. Meanwhile, Quill was beginning to breathe out wisps of purple flames. “I am truly sorry for what I did, but if I had to do it all over again, I still wouldn’t change a thing. Listen, the both of yo-”

“Stuff it, dragon-hunter! Why should we listen to anything you have to say!?” Quill shouted, as she too was boiling with anger and disappointment. “All our lives we believed every lie you told us, and I’m fucking sick of it! You killed our parents and you thought that you could make it up by being our mother?! You are fucking sick!”

More lighting echoed in the background as Celestia took in what the twins now thought of her. It was painfully obvious that they no longer wanted anything to do with her. And if she was honest with herself, if she were in their shoes, she’d likely feel the same. She turned to face Quill. “Call it how you will, but I saved this kingdom from another bloody war that it would not survive. May I remind you that I took care of-”

“YOU didn’t take care of shit! All YOU did was order someone to take care of us, and even then we still had to do most of the work ourselves!” Quill continued to shout at Celestia. “Our dad was right, you are just out for yourself. You sent away your own sister because you feared her. You killed our family because you feared them. That’s all you ever know, fear.”

As Quill’s voice trailed off, Spike regained the strength to stand up again, now having the ability to control his actions. “Celestia, d-did you really believe that you could replace our mother? Did you honestly believe that we would have been happy living with ponies and not our own kind?” Spike questioned the mare in a scratchy, deep voice that came to him from all the shouting. “Did you really think, for even a second, that you could atone for your sins by pretending to be our mother?”

Celestia closed her eyes for a moment to think to herself, to question herself, if she had ever really thought that she could be absolved of her sins by fostering the twins. “No…” she started, only faintly opening her eyes as another flash of lightning tore through the sky. “Never did I think that my conscious could be cleared by simply adopting you two. The acts I committed that day will forever haunt me. As will what happened with my sister. But I had thought, once you two were old enough to understand, that I could start by telling you what I had done.”

“Well guess what, you were wrong,” Spike spat. He was sick, disappointed, and disgusted with the mare, never wanting anything to do with her ever again. “I’m disappointed in you, Celestia. Not for what you’ve done, but for keeping the truth from us all our lives. You not only lied about it, but you also lied to us about our magic. You’ve been keeping us docile, so when you finally told us, you wouldn’t be at risk.”

Quill turned her head towards her brother, surprised at how quick her brother had pieced everything together. “You were afraid of us, weren’t you Celestia?” she questioned in a hollow voice. Frost, still standing beside Quill, wrapped her arms around Quill’s neck in an attempt to calm her. “You were worried once we knew what happened to our parents, what you’d done, that we would go on a rampage. That we would try to take revenge for their deaths. You were scared what what we would do.”

“And don’t I have reason to be?” Celestia returned, half turning to look at the now shocked expression on Quill’s face. “Just look at what Spike has done with only two and a half months of living like a dragon is supposed to. Your parents were exceptionally strong dragons. Apparently their blood runs strong in you, if you two have grown so much in such a short time. What do you think you would’ve done if you were older, and knew more about your magic?”

“The same fucking thing that’s going through my head right now,” Quill growled with a menacing wisp of fire from her nose. “But you wanna know what? Fuck. You,” Quill said, pointing a finger at Celestia with one small, lone, tear beginning to crawl down her cheek. Quill quickly wiped it away before more could join it. “You don’t have to worry about us taking any sort of revenge on you. Because I am so fucking done with everything that has to deal with you, Celestia! You’re a liar, a cheater, and a self-righteous bitch!”

Quill spat out a small wad of purple and black flames on the right half of the desk, the flame dying just as it landed, leaving a small scorch mark. “Good luck with ruling your kingdom, your highness. We’re gonna be living our lives the way we want to from now on. Spike, you ready to go?” Quill asked, itching to leave Canterlot and get back to High Moon, where she could collapse from emotional exhaustion.

“I can’t believe you, Celestia. You may be an immortal, but that doesn’t give you the right to throw away lives like that. Regardless of the situation,” Spike said before pushing off the bookshelf, breaking a shelf doing so. “Yeah Quill, let’s go home.”

Both barely keeping their emotions under control, Quill and Spike began to leave the room in mutual hatred of Celestia. However, as Spike reached out for the door handle, Celestia stopped them, saying, “And I wish you luck in living your lives however you wish to. You will always be welcome here… And… I’m sure that your parents would be proud of you.”

Spike and Quill both snapped their jaws at the mare before Spike swung the door open, letting Frost and Quill walk through before he followed, slamming the door behind him. The three didn’t waste any time as they rushed out of the castle, trying to get as far away from Celestia as they could.

As they ran out into the rain, it seemed to serve to cool Quill and Spike down to the point where they weren’t giving off rage-filled emotions. Frost, doing her best to fight her fear of storms, was worried for the twins. She couldn’t tell what the twins were feeling now, just that somehow their rage was gone. And that didn’t make sense. In a matter of a few short hours, they had gone through something that nobody else could ever possibly understand.

“Guys, are you two alright?” Frost asked in a slow tone of voice as her and Spike followed Quill down the empty streets. Suddenly, Quill came to a stop with Spike doing the same after a few more steps, causing Frost’s worry to grow. “That was something no one should be put through and I am-”

“Hey Frost,” Quill cut Frost off, turning around to face her marefriend with a small smile. “You want something to eat? Spike and I know this great donut shop, that would really hit the spot right now. I packed some money with me so we could eat, and I figured we may as well. Right Spike?”

“Yeah,” Spike nodded back at Quill with the same smile on his face as his twin. “It’s been too long since we’ve seen Donut Joe, and some donuts would definitely hit the spot right about now.”

Frost was speechless at what she was hearing, and sensing, from the twins. After what they’d just gone through, Frost had believed that they wouldn’t be able to smile for a long while, at least not an honest one. But here they were, after going through one of the worse situations she could have ever expected them to go through, and they were honestly happy.

It baffled Frost, but if Quill was happy, then she was happy too.

“Okay you two, if this ‘donut’ is as good as you are making it sound, then I don’t mind,” Frost said what a soft smile on her face, still on the fence about how the twins were truly feeling. She knew, however, that the worst thing she could do was ruin whatever was giving them the ability to smile.

Right as Frost was going to continue, another large bolt of lightning went off behind them, causing Frost to jump before she rushed over towards Quill to grab onto her arm. Quill giggled at the taller changeling’s sudden move, taking hold of the mare’s hand, and nuzzling against her to give Frost some comfort.

“It’s alright Frost, I won’t let anything happen to you,” Quill whispered into Frost’s ear to help calm her mare down. “Just stay calm and nothing will happen, you’ll see. A cup of warm milk will help you.”

Frost soon stopped her shaking from her lover’s affectionate move and calming emotions, easily putting her at ease. “Th-thank you Quill,” Frost said as she straightened herself out and returned Quill’s affectionate hold and nuzzle. “Yes, let’s go get that cup of milk and donuts.” Quill nodded her head towards her mare before they began walking down the street again with Spike right by their side.

As the three continued to walk down the street, the rain seemed to continue to purge both Quill and Spike of all their dark thoughts about Celestia, as the two remembered they had their whole lives to look forward to. And they weren’t going to start their new lives nursing that hate.

“So you’re afraid of lightning, huh?”

“It isn’t funny Spike!” Both twins began laughing at the pouting mare, helping to lighten the mood. “Guh, you guys can be so mean sometimes. The both of you.” Soon all three were laughing together as they made their way into the plaza of Canterlot, where Frost suddenly stopped with a wide-eyed expression on her face.

Both Spike and Quill stopped walking to see what was up with the mare. However when they looked back, all they saw was Frost staring up at a building. “Frost, what’s the matter?” Quill asked, only having seen this expression on Frost’s face when she was around Dusk for the first time. “Is something the-”

“There is something here,” Frost said, backing away from Quill for a few steps. She continued to look around the empty streets for the source of the sudden peak in malice, insanity, and fear. “Something here is very dangerous.” Frost turned back to Quill with a serious look on her face, the look on her face telling Quill all she needed to know. “We have to leave, now!”

Quill quickly snapped into action the moment Frost’s voice took a grave tone, looking around the plaza to spot somewhere they could duck down while they figured out what had Frost so spooked. That’s when she spotted a dark alleyway near them. “Over here quick, we can duck in here,” Quill said, rushing over to the alleyway with the other two at close heel.

They stopped in the alleyway with Spike at the edge of the corner, peering out at the empty streets while Quill saw to Frost. “C’mon Spike, talk to me,” Quill said, keeping her hands on Frost, who seemed to be growing more anxious by the second. “What do you see out there?”

Spike didn’t answer Quill’s question immediately as he looked around the corner corner, only seeing the empty streets of Canterlot. Although, that was normal when it was raining here in the mountain city. But Frost’s warning, and actions, had him questioning the deserted streets.

“I don’t see anything, but Frost is right, there is something out there,” Spike informed Quill, still searching around the area for what he was starting to sense, but coming up with nothing. “I don’t- wait, wait, hold up I see something.”

Quill turned her head away from Frost, moving to peek around the corner with Spike, and following his gaze. At the far end of the street Quill saw a hooded figure walking slowly in the rain with, an ominous aura about him. Both twins immediately recognized the robes - they were an exact match to the same robes Dusk described when he had told them about the unicorn that had attacked Ponyville.

“Oh shit, it’s that occult guy. Fuck, we don’t need this right now,” Quill said, hiding back around the corner with Spike moving away from the edge before they got spotted. With the day they were trying to salvage now ruined at the sight of the hooded figure, the twins were forced to make a decision.

“We can’t run,” Spike said, glancing back over the corner to see that the hooded figure standing in a single spot, as though he was waiting on something. “Those guys are after some filly with some strange and powerful magic, right? What do you think will happen if they get their hands on her?”

“It’ll be a war that Equestria isn’t ready for,” Quill said, looking down at the concrete ground as she thought about their situation. After what Celestia had told them, the twins had good reason to leave Canterlot, and let Celestia tend to this dark cloud looming over her city. However, that would go against everything they personally stood, and had trained for. “Alright, let’s see what he does, and when an opportunity comes up, we’ll make our move.”

“That’s the plan?” Spike questioned in a low shout of a whisper, hoping, wishing that Quill had something better than the whole ‘wait and see’ routine as her plan.

“It’s all we can do Spike. If you don’t remember, one of those guys was able to kick the Elements’ collective asses, and badly hurt a guy like Dusk. So it would be even more stupid to rush in there without knowing what he can do,” Quill informed the drake. To be honest, the whole reason she wanted to wait was because of a lesson she had learned the hard way from Wolf and Frost. “If we really have to go in, I’ll be the one to rush him while you two follow up with some magic.”

Spike bit down on his lip at his own rushed thoughts, scolding himself for thinking that Quill would really be foolish enough to just attack without any real sort of plan. ‘Man, Quill really has grown...’ Spike thought to himself before nodding his head. “Okay sis,” he nodded again, “I’m with you. There’s no way this guy can beat us all if we take him on at the same time.”

Quill nodded her head back at Spike before looking over to her lover to her right. “What about you Frost? You don’t have to get involved if you don’t want to.”

“And leave you two to fight that monster by yourselves? No, Quill,” Frost answered with a shake of her head, waving off all fears she had about the storm so she could focus on what was happening. “We’ve already been through this, I’m never letting you fight alone. But if I may make a suggestion to your plan?”

Quill again nodded her head with a growing smile, relieved that Frost was on their side with this as they could use all the help they could get. And with Frost once having been a changeling princess of a hive of half-breeds, that had to mean that Frost would know some fighting tactics that would aid in this situation. Though, an even greater relief would be knowing whether or not Dusk and his sisters were still in the city.

“Anything would help out a lot Frost, what is it?”

“It’s regarding how we are going to rush him. I say that you should strike from the air with a barrage of fireballs. Just to distract him so me and Spike can be right there to follow behind your attack.” Quill nodded her head, knowing that she was at a disadvantage with the rain going on.

But with the rain getting worse, Spike and Frost were at a bigger advantage. “I’ll be right behind you to imprison the unicorn in ice. If that doesn’t work, Spike, I want you to be right behind me and follow up with an attack that will stun him.”

“Alright got ya Frost, that unicorn won’t know wha-”

“H...hello?” All three turned their attentions away from the sudden turn of events, looking down the dark alleyway. They could barely make out a small, frail, and sickly looking off-white filly, with a messy long purple mane that faded into silver at the ends. She was hiding behind a trash-can, and wearing a weathered white dress.

“P...please he-help me...Papa…I wa-want my Papa,” the filly said with a series of gut-wrenching coughs, leaving wheezing for breath as she was forced to her knees. “P-Papa...I-I miss m-my Papa.”

Quill, and the others gaped at the filly. Why would a filly be out in this weather? As they struggled to understand who she was, Quill came to a quick assumption. There had to be a reason the occultists were showing up now. And that meant… “Hey guys...you don’t think that this is the filly that Dusk told us about? The one those hooded guys are after.”

“I don’t know Quill, but we have-” Frost was cut off by an explosion shaking the plaza, and from the force of it, most likely all of Canterlot. As everyone in the alley was able to get back up on their feet, Spike quickly peered out of the corner to find that the scene had drastically changed.

Now instead of just the lone hooded figure, the plaza was filled with odd and strange creatures, made with what appeared to be dark-gray and silver armor and held together by some shadowy force. Each of the armor-clad creatures had a long, curved black-steel blade in their hands, some seeming to be attached to their hands. Some of the armored creatures also had shields, spears, lances, and axes equipped on them.

A group of these metallic creatures were even airborne, held up by sharp purple wings that faded to a pale-silver at the tips. These creatures had long, almost dragon-like bodies with a helm shaped strangely like the muzzle of a dragon. Each of these winged creatures held a spear-like lance in their hands with a semi-circle spiked guard in the middle.

Spike even saw some of the larger ones that resembled what Dusk had fought in Ponyville, some with no weapons and other with large blunt guillotine-axes in one of their hands. He also noticed that two of the towering monsters held half of a shield on their arms and were built more rugged than the other ones.

Spike eventually spotted one standing on top of a building in the far distance, seeming to be the leader of the group, with three of the slightly curved blades on him.

Disregarding their colors, the creatures almost looked like a “sentinel” that Spike had seen once in the books from the Canterlot archives. A type of magic that was now forbidden had been used to create these creatures. After the Nightmare Rebellion had ended, they were used as the primary defence force for Equestria, as the nation had suffered heavy losses. The book stood out in Spike’s mind, as it was one of the very few that talked about one of the forbidden types of magic - Necromancy. Like many other ancient practices, Celestia had forbidden its use after she had banished her sister to the moon.

Initially Spike thought that the hooded unicorn in the street was the one that had summoned these sentinels, but he was proven wrong when one of the metal beings attacked the unicorn. The unicorn summoned a large golden lance and speared the sentinel through the chestplate. The armor came apart, and the unicorn tossed the pierced chestpiece off his lance with another strong swing.

Unable to make sense of the situation, Spike turned back to his sister and Frost, who was tending to the filly. “Uh, guys, our situation changed,” Spike said, cutting into the two lover’s conversation while the unknown unicorn continued to confront the sentinels. “We might have to just book it, because I don’t think we can handle this ourselves.”

Quill moved away from the filly and Frost to see what the commotion was all about. When she peeked around the corner, Quill was stunned at the sight of the masked unicorn decimating each of the sentinels. At the same time, he was causing as much, if not even more, destruction than the sentinels were. It was hard to tell who was who in this fight, but that didn’t matter when the fighting and bursts of magic quickly began moving towards them.

“Oh shit, get back!” Quill shouted, pulling Spike back away from the corner right as a stray burst of energy was fired their way. Luckily, the edge of the building was the only thing to suffer damage. “Great, just great. What are we gonna do now?”

Spike opened his mouth to answer, only to be cut off by another massive explosion rocking the ground. “This is not good, if that guy keeps this up, Canterlot won’t have to worry about any snowstorms this year.” Suddenly, several more explosions erupted throughout the city, all coming from different parts of the city. A siren soon followed after, signifying something the twins already knew was happening.

“Canterlot is under attack...again!”

“Gee, what gave you that idea Captain Obvious?” Quill retorted, snapping her head towards Spike, and mouthing, ‘You are so stupid sometimes,’ before turning back towards Frost, who was cuddling the now-shaking filly in her arms. “We need to get her out of here before they find her.”

Spike turned his head away from the scene as a few guards arrived to engage the sentinels, turning towards his sister. “But where are we gonna take her? It’s not like there’s a place we can drop her off. Unless we…”

“Look,” Quill cut in, snapping her head towards Spike to glare at him. It was easy for the both of them to tell that they were thinking of the same place, despite them not ever wanting to go back there. “I don’t like it as much as you do, but we don’t have many options in this case. We have to get her to the castle, at least then these guys won’t be able to reach her.”

“Quill is right, Spike,” Frost stepped in right as a guard, oddly a canine of some sort, was thrown down to the ground with the sickening sound of his shoulder dislocating. The group in the alleyway winced from the sound of the canine crying out in pain. “It isn’t safe out here any more, and we could ensure the defeat of...whoever these unicorns are.”

“Yeah, I know but…” Spike sighed as Quill dashed over to the fallen soldier to help him to his feet. As she brought him over and sat him against the wall, Frost handed Spike the filly with difficulty, as she didn’t want to let the mare go. Thankfully, Spike was able to convince the crying filly so Frost could treat the canine’s injuries. “Quill, you can’t be serious with this right? We’re not honestly going back to the castle.”

“We don’t have a choice Spike,” Quill growled, disliking the idea as much as Spike did. However, if they wanted to put an end to this whole thing, then they were going to have to take the filly to the castle.

Spike let out a growl of his own at his inability to find a way to argue against Quill’s point. The last thing he wanted to do was even go anywhere near the castle, let alone Celestia. Yet, they couldn’t let these unicorns get their hands on the filly. “Alright, but only because we don’t have any other options. And we might want to leave sooner than later. It’s getting dangerous over here.”

Spike’s statement was emphasized by one of the sentinels being thrown into the front wall of the building they were hiding behind, landing right in front of the alleyway before being dragged off by some golden-silver tinted magical grip.

Spike shook his head at the tight spot they were in, turning his attention to the filly that was clinging to him, crying against his chest. He put one claw in her hair, brushing it in what he hoped was a calming manner, as he whispered to her, telling her that she was going to be fine, and he was going to take her somewhere safe.

Quill turned her attention to the black-furred canine, trying to catch a good look at his eyes. “Hey you,” Quill snapped her fingers in the red-orange haired canine’s face to get him to lift his head from the ground. When Quill was able to look into the soldier's eyes, she didn’t feel anything off about him. Which meant she could probably trust him enough with the plan she was coming up with.

“Got a name, guard-dog?”

Slowly, while Frost was using the strongest healing spell she knew, the canine soldier turned his head up towards the dragoness who had came to his rescue. “Sh-Shadow...Shadow Star, I-I’m a private in the guard,” Shadow Star said with gratitude in his voice, thankful for the dragoness coming to his aid. To think, he had only just fully joined the guard a few days ago, and then this happened. Clearly the best decision he’d ever made. “Thank you for saving me, but I should be able to get back into the battle.”

Another explosion shook the ground, forcing everyone to duck for cover as chunks of buildings were thrown outward. Quill backed up to the wall behind her, catching a glimpse of the fight still going on in the plaza. From the looks of things, the guards were having trouble keeping up with the fast-moving sentinels, especially the one that looked like their leader.

And yet, the masked unicorn seemed to not have suffered a single scratch, despite being the one causing most of the destruction. Each time the unicorn struck down another one of the sentinels, he would spit out some dribble about how unicorns were the superior race, before he went back to decimating the sentinels and Canterlot.

At this rate, the masked unicorn was going to destroy Canterlot before he could actually ‘save’ it. “That guy is completely insane, I can tell just by his movements,” Quill said turning her attention back towards Frost and Shadow. “Frost, how is he?” Frost continued tending to Shadow’s shoulder while he gritted his teeth to keep from screaming out in pain.

“Your shoulder is dislocated,” Frost decided, after a moment of trying to understand what kind of injury he had. Shadow let out a small growl, knowing exactly what was going to come next. “Quill, come help me relocate his shoulder so I can get to work on healing his injury.”

Quill nodded her head, moving to Shadow’s left side to take hold of his left shoulder and right collarbone to brace herself while Spike gave them a puzzled look. “Wait, Frost, dragon magic can’t heal bones. You’re not going to…”

“I am, Spike,” Frost said with an assuring tone in her voice as she stood up from the ground, sparking her changeling magic. “We can’t afford to mess this up. Not just with healing Shadow here, but getting that filly to the castle as well. And you already know what I’m doing, right Quill?”

“I do, but I don’t like it Frost,” Quill said as she bit her lip, now even more worried about what might happen if things really went south. “Go ahead Frost, the faster we do it, the more time we have to think and act later.”

Frost nodded her head before she took in a deep breath, willing her changeling magic to surge forth as she used the shape-shifting spell to change her scorpio self. Small deep-blue flickers of ethereal flames began growing on various parts of her body before they gave way to her scorpio form.

Shadow’s eyes widened at the dragoness going up in blue flames to reveal a scorpio mare, and not just any ordinary scorpio, at that. “By the Threads,” the half-blood said, staring at the tall and young changeling half-breed in front of him, quickly realizing what she was. “Y-you’re a H-Hive P-princess. Your highness, please forgive my-”

“That’s enough, Shadow,” Frost shook her head at the canine, confirming her suspicion that he was a mixed breed between diamond dog and one of the changeling races. “I am no longer a princess. You should be more worried about your shoulder, because I fear this will hurt. And you also might want to undo your own shape-shift, it will make this easier for you.”

Shadow nodded his head towards the former princess, closing his eyes to focus on what little magic he had from his bloodline. Shadow’s body soon was covered in a gray mist that quickly faded away to reveal two horns protruding from his red-orange hair, with wavy fiery-orange markings along the visible parts of his cheeks, shoulders and arms.

Both Quill and Spike were shocked to see the canine change form in front of them, but were relieved at their luck. “Okay Quill, you know what to do.” Quill nodded her head at Frost before turning back to Shadow, giving him a nod as well.

“Quill, was it? Go ahead, you’d be surprised ho-” Shadow speech turned into a loud shout from Quill unexpectedly popping his shoulder back into its natural place. He honestly had thought that the dragoness would have waited before doing something like that, but then again they weren’t in a good position to get to know each other right now. “Okay...that hurt.”

“Frost,” Quill quickly started, moving away from Shadow as another blast of magic shook the city, the sounds of battle all around them. She moved back to the corner to peek around and see what was going on.

Much to her dismay, Quill saw that the masked unicorn was now engaging even more sentinels, but this time most of them were bare-handed and much larger. ‘Those are more like the thing Dusk went up against. We need to get out of here.’

“Hurry and get this guy up and running again. We’re gonna need him, like now,” Quill said, now searching for a weapon to use so they could force their way through the chaos and to the castle. She quickly found one of the sentinel's curved blades laying on the ground just outside of the alleyway. “When I say go, Spike, you lead Shadow and Frost through the alleyways back to the main street. I’ll be right back.”

Before either Spike or Frost could stop the dragoness, Quill ran out into the fray on all fours, bolting straight for the black blade. Right as the blade became in reach, Quill made a leap for it, grabbing it from the ground as she ducked and rolled. Quill took a small moment to hold the sword in her right hand; curved, slender, and single-edged.

It was easy to tell that these blades were made for speed; the curvature meant that it was a slashing tool. Judging from the length of the handle, it was meant to be a two-handed weapon. Yet for Quill it felt better with just one hand. It felt...natural to her, despite the fact that Quill had never used a sword before. There was something, almost like a pull she felt from the blade, almost as if she could fuse her magic with it.

“Quill, look out!” Frost shouted as one of the sentinels had noticed Quill’s movement, and began to charge at her. Quill didn’t hesitate as she dashed away from the fast-moving sentinel with the help of her wings, rushing as fast as she could back to the alleyway to rejoin the others.

However, Quill’s escape route back to the alleyway was cut off by the sentinel leaping over Quill’s head, raising its blade above its head to deliver a downward blow. Remembering her lessons about adapting to different situations in combat from Wolf, Quill quickly swung her blade up to met the sentinel’s strike, knocking it back, and giving her the opening she needed to let loose a torrent of purple fire to the soulless puppet’s face.

The fire, while seeming to damage it, didn’t fully stop the sentinel as it went for a sideways strike at Quill’s neck. Quill was able to duck underneath the strike, taking the opportunity to sweep her legs at the sentinel's legs, causing it to fall to the ground as she whirled around on one hand with the leftover momentum.

Before the sentinel could get up again, Quill slammed her foot down onto the sentinel’s sword-arm and rammed her new sword through its chest. She raised her hand up above her head, gathering and focusing her magic into a small, apple-sized ball of bright purple flames. “Ignis iacula.” Quill threw the highly concentrated ball of fire at the sentinel's shoulder plate of its sword-arm, blowing it apart from the rest of the body before piercing the torso.

The ethereal glow of the sentinel’s eyes soon faded away as the pieces of armor fell apart from each other. Counting that as a kill, Quill pulled her sword out of the sentinel’s chest armor, picking up the sheath that was attached to its waist.

“Luna, that was a close one,” Quill said with a sigh before she rushed into the alleyway where she was quickly embraced by Frost. Before Quill could even say a word, Frost placed a quick passionate kiss on Quill’s lips before the mare finally let her speak. “Frost, would you chill, I’m okay. That tin-can couldn’t keep up with me.”

“Quill, don’t you ever scare me like that ever again,” Frost said, despite the fact that Quill was able to handle the fight fairly well on her own. Frost let out a sigh, not believing that she allowed even the smallest bit of doubt enter her heart about Quill’s skills. But now wasn't the time to be acting like this. “At least now we have a strategy of taking on these walking suits of armor.”

“Yeah, take out their arms and go for the chest,” Quill said, glad for the experience from the short fight. She had also noticed that there was a large difference from fighting the walking suits of armor. They didn’t have souls, so there seemed to be a lack of will behind them, which only served to upset Quill, for some reason.

“Come on, let’s get moving already.” Quill placed the black blade into the sheath as she and the others started to get ready to leave the alleyway. Before they could leave, however, Quill turned towards the half-blood that was still trying to get the numb feeling out of his shoulder. “Shadow, rejoin your team. Tell them how to beat these things, and that the masked unicorn isn’t on our side.”

“Understood, I’ll make sure to tell them. Thank you all for everything, and stay safe,” Shadow said with a nod towards Quill, which she returned, before he ran back out into the fray, his claws fully unsheathed and ready to use his training. With the half-blood returning to the battle, Quill, Frost, and Spike all focused on their plan to get the filly, who was now quietly huddled in Spike’s arms, to the castle where she would be safe.

Quill took point in the charge through the alley, which was still free of any enemy movement. Right as it seemed as though they were going to get out of the alley safely, a sentinel came crashing into, and through, a one of the walls, nearly taking Quill with it.

Quill pulled her sword out to be ready for another fight while Frost created two frozen halberds to help defend Spike and the filly. Slowly creeping up to the corner, Quill slowed her breath before she whipped, around placing her blade at the throat of the one that caused the sentinel to fly into the wall.

“Oh, it’s you, Dusk,” Quill said after a short pause, withdrawing her sword away from Dusk’s neck as he moved his electrified hand away from her neck. Looking over Dusk’s shoulder, Quill saw that he wasn’t alone, as his two siblings and Obsidian were all with him.

“Cerberus’ bloody fangs Quill, you scared me for a moment,” Dusk sighed as he looked up to the sky, his hand over his heart to make sure that it hadn’t jumped out of his chest. “So that was you I saw this morning. Man, can you believe what’s happening?”

“Yeah, it sure has the best of timing,” Quill said, walking past the half-breed before coming to a stop in front of Obsidian. “Sergeant Obsidian, you won’t believe who we found.”

“Is it the one that caused all this mess? Because if it’s not we’re wasting time,” Obsidian said, obviously too busy with the sudden attack on Canterlot to have anytime to waste with much else. “And who is the changeling half-breed, and the sick looking filly? They’re new.”

“The changeling is my marefriend Frost, but I’ll explain that later. Look,” Quill paused as she felt a sense of victory at what she was going to tell them. “Obsidian, she’s the filly. Like the filly. The one these guys are after.”

Both Obsidian and Dusk’s eyes widened at what Quill said, both canines taking a quick look at each other for a moment, neither believing the stroke of luck that just seemed to fall into their lap.

“Quill are you sure that’s her? Where did you even find her?” Obsidian questioned, walking over to the filly with Dusk and his siblings following close behind. The closer he got, the more he could see how much the filly’s life was in danger.

When the small group got to Spike and the filly, the filly let out a small, fearful noise, trying to hide further in Spike’s arms. Spike blinked at her for a moment, before pressing his face against her head and telling her that these were friends. He ran his claw through her hair again, that seemed to help calm her down some.

“By Cerberus, she’s so frail, and she’s got a fever,” Obsidian said after placing his hand on the filly’s forehead. He could feel she was burning up, and with her small body the way it was, it was a sheer miracle that she hadn’t died of starvation. “Come on, let’s not waste any more time. Regardless of whether she is the filly that we’ve been looking for or not, she needs medical treatment. Now.”

“Then lead the way Sergeant,” Quill said with a nod of her head before the group left the alleyway and headed straight towards the castle as fast as they could.

Now in the open streets, Quill, Spike, and Frost were given a better look at the damage the city was suffering. Sentinels were lining the streets, some engaged in battle with guards, others looking for their next victims. The twins had to force their eyes away from the fray so they could stay focused on the task at hand, both thinking back to the story Celestia had told them.

If she believed that dragons were capable of nothing but violence, then they were going to give her violence. But it would be in defense of the place they had first called home. Before that, though, they needed to get the filly somewhere safe first.

While the twins and changeling were taking in the scope of the battle, Obsidian quickly thought of a way to keep Spike and the filly safe until they reached the castle. “Verdite, you take the rear. Make sure that we don’t get ambushed from behind.” The forest-green half-breed nodded her head as she jumped back behind Spike, tearing apart the ground as she landed before running to catch up and keep up with Spike.

“Rogue and Quill, you take the skies. Stay in my line of sight but fly ahead and see if you can quickly pick off a few of these things along with way.” Quill did a double take at the half-breed Obsidian had called Rogue. She looked like she could be Wave’s twin. Rogue nodded her head before she opened her wings to take flight, getting into position as Quill following right behind.

With eyes in the sky, Obsidian could focus on the ground. “Dusk and Frost, you two take either side of Spike and the filly. I don’t want anything coming near either of them.” Already seeing where the guard-dog was going with his plan, Frost and Dusk quickly moved to take spots next to Spike.

Now with the escort formation in place, Obsidian reached behind him to pull out his two spell-gun pistols, shooting at any sentinels that came too close for his comfort. Meanwhile, Quill and Rogue did their jobs at keeping the buildings and skies free of any signs of the enemy as Dusk, Verdite, and Frost kept the ground safe.

Thanks to Obsidian’s quick plan, the group was able to reach the front doors of the castle, where they saw both Twilight and Rainbow holding off a small horde of sentinels with a small contingent of guards.

Nodding to each other, both Quill and Rogue tore straight for an aerial sentinel with Quill’s sword and Rogue sawtooth combat knife, already enchanted with her wind-magic, aiming for its wings.

As it fell to the ground, Verdite jumped over the group’s heads to kick the sentinel straight in the middle of its back, knocking it into a group of sentinels that had a few guards cornered. Dusk followed up his elder sister’s move with a volley of purple and blue fireballs at the disoriented group of sentinels, giving the trapped soldiers a chance to fall back and regroup.

Rogue and Quill continued to deal with the winged sentinels, giving aid to other pegasi that were locked in battle with the enemy. Obsidian ordered Spike to head straight for the medical ward of the castle and leave the fighting to the others.

The drake reluctantly did as he was told to do, Frost right by his side so the others could break off from the formation to assist defending the castle. Frost froze any sentinel that got close to Spike, allowing Dusk or Verdite to smash straight through them.

Obsidian quickly took control of organizing and focusing the ground troops, while using his own guns to blast apart sentinels and provide covering fire for Rogue or Quill when they needed it. The group focusing their fire gave Spike a clear path to charge through.

However, right before he could make it to the steps that would lead him into the castle, the quick shimmer of a blade caught his eye before it was blocked by Obsidian’s volcanic dagger. Spike slipped backwards onto his rear as Obsidian held off a sentinel with three blades.

It was in that short moment that he got a good look at the creature, its size the same of the other medium sized sentinels, minus the heavy armor. Where the others had dents, cracks, and even spaces where one could see into the armor, this one did not. From head to toe, it was covered by its metal body, smooth and immaculate, making it seem like it was more alive than the others.

“Rah, Spike, what are you doing?” Obsidian questioned as he continued to hold off the elite sentinel, pushing it back to bring his pistol to bear. “Get moving!” Obsidian shouted as he went took a quick shot, but missing as the elite drew his second sword to block the shot. The elite took a swipe at the diamond dog with this new blade, which forced Obsidian to duck down before taking an awkward shot from that angle.

Obsidian’s shot just faintly hit its target, chipping the elite in the shoulder. Yet when the elite jumped away from Obsidian, not a single scratch was seen on the shoulder. As it touched the ground, however, the concrete beneath it collapsed.

Through the smoke, the elite was seen jumping out before recovering with a backflip and an oddly nimble landing. When the smoke finally cleared, Obsidian could see that Verdite was the one that made the concrete shatter, the half-breed blowing some rubble from her shoulder.

“Get going Drake, we can hold off these tin cans,” she said with a quick laugh before rearing her fist back and slamming it straight into the ground. “Ruunt onychinus,” Verdite shouted as a path stalagmites began erupting up from the ground, racing straight for the sentinel.

Yet the attack was too slow for it to hit as the elite jumped an impossible height in the air, only to be ambushed by Rogue as she suddenly appearing behind it to slash at its back with her knife.

“Aeris frustum.” As Rogue sliced across the sentinel’s back, she shot out a slash of air, sending the elite flying straight at Quill. However, before the dragoness could deliver her blow, she was caught off guard by the elite suddenly flipping around mid air to block Quill’s attack.

While Obsidian took another shot at the elite, Frost was already preparing for the sentinel’s unavoidable descent to the ground as she took aim with her halberd at the general spot where she estimated it was going to land.

Even though she was ready for it to land, the moment it hit the ground, it leapt aside from the halberd Frost sent straight for its chestplate. After it landed from the dodge, the sentinel charged straight for Spike, who was running for the stairs again. Frost threw another halberd at it, but the elite easily sliced through, somehow managing to evade all of Obsidian’s spell-shots as well.

Dusk then tried to intervene as he grabbed one of the nearby smaller sentinels to throw it in the path of the elite. However, all the elite did was jump clear over Obsidian and Frost’s heads, still targeting Spike as the dragon had finally reached the stairs.

Spike looked back to see the elite pulling its blade back to strike him down. But Quill suddenly put herself between her brother and the incoming sentinel, their blades clashing harshly. “What are you doing Spike?” Quill hissed through her teeth as she fought back the elite while the others moved to hold off the normal sentinels. “Get her to safety and prove why you should be a knight!”

Spike bit down on his lower lip, not liking that he had to stay out of the fight, especially since everyone was doing their best to protect him and the filly in his arms. Still, he knew that he had an important role. “Stay alive Quill, I’m gonna get real pissed if you guys get hurt!” Spike said as he turned to run up the stairs and into the castle. Once inside, Spike rushed to the medical ward while Obsidian continued to lead the defence of the castle. Slowly, they were able to start turning the tide of the battle, thanks in no small part to Dusk, his siblings, Frost’s enhanced ice and water magic, and Obsidian’s leadership.

Back inside, Spike ran straight for the medical ward of the castle. He couldn’t believe that he was getting this far, he couldn't believe how everything was turning out. Not only did they finally have the filly safe, but now they could push the unicorns on the defensive if they pulled this off. This day was starting to turn around.

“Don’t worry, you’re safe now,” Spike said, short of breath after the nearly three mile sprint while carrying the little filly. He knew he couldn’t rest now, though. He still had to make sure the filly was secure in the hospital ward before returning to help his sister and their friends. “Everything is going to be okay. We’re not gonna let any of those bad ponies hurt you ever again.”

Rounding one final corner, Spike ran into the medical ward, looking for a doctor or nurse he knew that could help the filly out. However, the ward was filled with soldiers that had already been injured during the attack. As Spike went further down the hall, and the crowd finally started to thin out, the filly moved in his arms after having been deathly still ever since they’d entered the castle.

“Mister Dragon...th-thank you,” the filly started with a raspy tone that forced Spike to stop running. Seeming to force herself, the filly moved to sit up in Spike’s arms, wrapping her thin arms around Spike’s neck, and nuzzling into him.

Spike returned the filly’s embrace, since she most likely needed any comfort she could get after the horrid life she’d been having. As the filly continued to hold onto Spike’s neck, he felt a chill go down down his spine. He shook it off as a side effect of running close to three miles in the pouring rain.

Knowing that he was still needed with the others, Spike found a nurse to take care of the filly, promising her he’d be back. The light-tan pegasus mare that took the filly took in her condition at a glance, and immediately went to the emergency care unit. Spike turned back and ran back out to help with the fight.

After taking a minute to catch his breath, Spike ran out to the main hall, encountering the sight of Quill yelling at some guards, with Dusk holding her back. “Hey, what's going on?” Spike questioned after coming to a stop beside Frost.

Quill quickly took the distraction of Spike showing up to shake out of Dusk’s arms, shoving a unicorn stallion against a wall. She quickly placed her sword against his neck. “This asshole tried to attack Frost! After she risked her life to save this already-lost city. You should be thanking her, you fucking miserable colt!”

Before the situation could get more out of control, Obsidian shoved Quill off of the stallion, pushing her back into Dusk. After getting back onto his feet, the stallion moved to thank Obsidian for saving him from the enraged dragoness, but was met by the dog’s fist slamming into his jaw, sending the stallion to the floor in pain.

Everyone’s eyes widened from the dog’s act, but after having seen the whole thing, and having fought beside Frost, no one stopped him. “Now,” Obsidian started in a commanding voice that took full control of the situation. “If anyone here has a problem with fighting beside Frost, you can stay here and watch your home burn to the ground. The rest of you, stay right here on standby until I give out an order. Are we clear?”

With silence being his only answer, Obsidian kneeled down to the still downed stallion, moving right into his face with a small, fake, smile. “Is that understood, colt?” he asked in a calm voice that barely hid his dislike of the stallion.

“Y-yes sir,” the stallion said as he got off the ground of his own accord while Obsidian turned his attention towards Spike.

“Report in, Drake,” Obsidian said, looking Spike dead in the eyes, and wanted to know about the condition of the filly before he made any sort of decisions.

Spike tilted his head at the dog, not fully knowing what he was talking about, and still shocked at the dog’s action. “Uh...o-oh right the filly. She’s in the emergency care unit right now, and is-”

“Okay Drake, that’s all I needed to know,” Obsidian said as he turned away from Spike, seeming to not be interested in the full story. Which was understandable given the situation they were still in. “Okay everyone, listen up. Our enemy is the same one that is responsible for several disappearances throughout Equestria. Our mission is simple. Head to the center plaza, and take them down. I want everyone to pair up in teams of two. Remember, either disarm the sentinels, or go for the kill. If there are no further questions, let’s move!”

As the large twenty-one strong group started out the castle doors, everyone began quickly pairing up with each other; Dusk with Rouge, Obsidian with Verdite, Twilight with Rainbow, and a team of three with Spike, Quill, and Frost. The rest of the guard began pairing up as they saw fit.

The large group quickly tore back through the pouring rain, as the storm seemed to only have gotten worse. Along the way, they encountered isolated and disoriented groups of soldiers, doubling their numbers as they approached the plaza.

The sight of the plaza was a dismal one; broken soldiers laying in the mud, injured or most likely dead. What was more twisted about the scene was that the lone masked unicorn that had appeared near the alley seemed to have completely lost every last drop of sanity, wildly swing his lance around like a mad-pony hell-bent on defeating an enemy that wasn’t there. The near-constant dribble he was spewing made him sound like an escaped insane asylum patient.

On top of that, his mask had long since broken away to show the bloodied face of Prince Blueblood. Knowing that Blueblood had something to do with the enemy was a very hard, severe wound to the guard’s morale. But this didn’t change what they had all been ordered to do. Celestia had a kill-or-capture warrant out for each of these occultists, and if Blueblood was one of them, then he would be taken in, dead or alive.

Obsidian quickly began ordering a large part of his force to aid the fallen soldiers and another part to protect the medical team. While they did this, Obsidian led an attack force to subdue Blueblood. However, as they began converging on the mad stallion, three more masked unicorns showed themselves. The new group consisted of a large stallion, a petite mare, and another stallion that seemed to be eyeing Dusk warily.

Dusk quickly recognized one of the masked unicorns as the very same one that had attacked Ponyville. He vowed that he wasn’t going to let him get away a second time. Dusk got Rogue’s attention, and the pair quickly charged at the stallion, surprising the group of unicorns by suddenly appearing beside them. The two half-breeds were able to get the group to separate away from each other with a massive cyclone of wind-magic.

Obsidian and Verdite followed the two’s rush attack by pushing a larger stallion away from the group so they could deal with him themselves. Quill, Frost, and Spike all rushed at Blueblood hoping to overpower him with their combined might, which left Rainbow and Twilight to take on the unicorn mare.

While the others all began their own fights, Quill, Frost, and Spike all threw themselves at Blueblood. As the stallion ranted and raved at them, they each began preparing attacks of their own elemental magics. Blueblood continually loosed bolts of magic at them, trying to pin the three down. He seemed to have entirely forgotten about his lance.

Spike acted as the distraction for the group, due to his speed from his water-surfing spell that he had been able to adapt on the fly for use in the constant-downpour of rain. As he zipped across Blueblood’s front, Quill launched a series of fireballs as his back. Sensing the magical release, Blueblood whipped around and was barely able to erect a shield in time to save himself from the fireballs. With a snarl, Quill launched herself at the shield, attempting to smash it with her sword. She had no better luck with the blade, and Blueblood gave a smirk before pulsing the shield outward, sending Quill flying back.

As Frost saw her lover get knocked back, she pushed her worry down, too busy preparing a spell to drain Blueblood of most of his magic. Her horn glowed bright, and she spread her magic throughout the moisture in the air.

She was thankful that Spike was able to keep the enraged stallion’s attention off her, and she saw Quill come hurtling back to the fight. Her worry mostly quieted for now, she forced herself to focus again on her spell. Lowering the temperature in the immediate area where her magic had gathered, Frost began directing it all to converge on a single point - Blueblood.

Having been too enraged by the two hideous dragons attacking him, Blueblood didn’t initially noticed when he feet became frozen to the ground. As the ice slowly crept up his body, though, he noticed that he couldn’t move to keep them in his sight. Slowly, he realized that his magic was being pulled from him at a rapid pace. Trying to turn, he managed to turn his upper body enough to see a half-changeling creature with its horrid horn glowing.

“It’s you! You’re doing this!” Blueblood snarled. Gathering his magic, he created a massive ball of fire above his head - and felt it snuff itself out. His didn’t have enough magic left to sustain the creation. As he continued to try and pull for more magic, he noticed that the ice encasing him had reached his shoulders. With one final, baleful scream, the ice crept over his head, silencing the traitorous stallion.

As Quill and Spike crept up on the statue of ice, Frost calmly walked over. However, as she got near it, she staggered to one knee, with Quill immediately rushing to her side.

“I’ll be fine,” Frost assured her lover, “that was just a complex spell. I wasn’t sure I could do it. It took everything I had to tie that spell to his magic, and make it feed off his own power.”

“Well,” Quill gave a small laugh, “It certainly worked. That’s one down. Now for the other three.”

Spike nodded his head, turning to see Twilight and Rainbow Dash dealing with the mare occultist they had seen. As he did so, he heard Rainbow let out a painful scream as she was shot down by the masked mare, leaving an injured Twilight to face the mare by herself.

The mare, in a fit of pure narcissism, revealed herself to be a highly renowned model known as Angel Wing. She laughed at Twilight, the noise grating on Spike’s ears, as she proclaimed, “Equestria’s newest princess, and she’s such a weakling. My my, maybe I should get a pair of wings. I’m certainly stronger than you appear to be.”

Twilight gave her a look full of fury and hate, and prepared herself to defend against this mare in order to protect Rainbow.

Spike began running towards his pair of old friends, seeing that they needed his help. He knew that Quill and Frost would be behind him after Frost had recovered herself a bit. Pushing his water magic as hard as he could, he nearly flew as he skated along the ground, rushing to Twilight.

Angel Wing laughed again and again as she fire a seemingly-endless barrage of bolts against a shield that Twilight had erected, knowing that she had this alicorn outclassed. The power her master had given her easily eclipsed this foalish mare’s. With another surge of power, she finally broke the alicorn’s shield. Twilight fell back with an injured cry.

“And now I make a new name for myself, because everyone will worship me after I kill you, princess. You were never fit to rule, and I’m going to prove it,” the insane mare cackled, her horn sparking as she prepared a final bolt of magic to end this princess’ life. She raised her hand above her head, the energy coalescing into a bright ball of pure magic.

Seeing Twilight fall, Spike knew he had to do something. Yet he had no weapons to distract the occultist mare with, and he had nothing to help protect Twilight… with a sudden shock, he realized he was wrong. He did have something to protect Twilight with.

As Angel Wing swung her arm forward, the large bolt of magic flew for Twilight.

Thump-thump.

Spike could hear his heart hammering in his ears as he moved between Twilight and the bolt, arms spread wide. He heard someone scream his name, before the bolt struck.

Thump-thump.

Spike was blown backwards, the scales on his chest no match for the power that mare had put into that one spell. It slammed into him, shredding most of his chest. Landing hard on his back, the air was pushed out of his lungs - and Spike found he couldn’t feel any pain. Coughing blood, Spike willed himself to feel something, anything, no matter how excruciating. He picked his head up off the ground, and grimaced when he saw what was left of his chest.

Thump...thump.

“Spike! You colossal asshole!” The voice sounded tinny to Spike’s ears, and he blinked away the rain to see a face above him. Quill’s. In spite of the rain pouring down, Spike thought he could see her crying. ‘No, Quill, don’t cry. I never wanted to make you cry. Don’t cry, please.’

Thump….thump.

Opening his mouth, Spike tried to speak, only letting out a single cough that sprayed blood on his sister’s chest. Finally realizing how badly injured he was, Spike forced a smile onto his face for Quill. He struggled to force a hand up to her face, wiping away a tear on her cheek. He saw her mouth moving, but no words reached his ears. She reached a hand up to his, pressing it against her cheek hard. He saw it was covered in blood, as was most of her arm. ‘Is that my blood?’ He knew he should be worried or scared, but oddly he only felt peaceful.

Thump…...thump.

Laying his head back on the ground, closing his eyes against the rain, Spike let himself relax. He only had two real regrets, if this was how he was going to die. The first, that he’d made his sister worry and cry. Hopefully she would forgive him. The second, though, that one was a regret he hadn’t realized until now. He’d never gotten to tell Cyclone how he’d really felt about her. He hoped she’d find a strong, trustworthy mate. She deserved her dream.

‘Cy, I’m so sorry. I love you…’

Thump…